A designer reimagines classic MCM for the Boise, Idaho, climate.
Once you discover your dream neighborhood, it’s time to look for your dream home. For Jed Splittgerber, a designer, this meant building modern in Boise, bringing a fresh take on familiar mid-century designs but with Idaho’s climate in mind.
“I grew up in Boise, and the first house my wife and I bought was a 1959 Joe La Marche home on the Boise Bench,” Jed says. The tough search for a buildable lot in an existing neighborhood began. “Not having any Eichler- or Rummer-designed homes in Idaho, I became a bit obsessed with the idea of reimagining this style of homes built for our local climate and with more contemporary conveniences,” he explains.
Eichler Exposure
“I went to college in Orange, California, and when I happened to drive through the Fairhaven neighborhood of Eichler homes, I was enthralled,” Jed recalls. The connections to the outdoors, natural light, large spans of glass and building materials on display all caught his eye. “I fell in love with mid-century architecture and design and became well-versed in Eichler homes, the Case Study House Program and furniture from the period, especially Danish Modern designs,” he says. Over a decade of studying floor plans from Eichler and Rummer and thinking about ways to integrate new features went into the process.
Working through sketches and collaboration with an architect and engineer, Jed’s plans were in work well before the lot had even been chosen. “We’d spent years working through ideas of how these styles could be functionally modernized, from increasing the ceiling height from 8 feet to 9 feet to adding a mudroom, laundry room, etc.,” he explains. “This was a common goal of our project: commitment to aesthetics without sacrificing functionality.”
Climate Challenges to Building Modern in Boise
Working with the Boise climate called for some creative solutions to maintain the aesthetic. On either side of the gables, fascia runs on a horizontal plane, but behind it the TPO roof is tapered so it’s higher up on the interior where it connects to the gable. Then, the pitch slopes down to drain everything to the sides of the home, where gutters run front to back. “One of the biggest challenges was explaining the project to potential builders and contractors,” Jed says. He designed a lookbook to show people the vision so they could fully understand the detail and what he was trying to accomplish: a modern post-and-beam home constructed in a traditional way, with more contemporary features and comforts…